Judy Gohringer

I am drawn to mid-20th c contemporary artists; particularly the abstract expressionists as well as aboriginal art and outsider art. I paint with acrylics on paper and board. Occasionally I break from non-objective work to paint in a stylized representational manner. I am often inspired by my summers spent canoe camping in Canada.

She participated in “Two Cultures One Spirit”, in 2005, a state wide Wisconsin Painters and Sculptors, WPS, and Japan On The Road exhibition in Wisconsin. In 2008 she exhibited with WPS in Saitama Museum in Tokyo, Japan along with the Japanese Group Since moving to Rochester she has been exhibiting with the Arena Art Group, and other venues. Sophia is a multimedia artist. She has done installation, life sculpture and videos, but presently she is mostly a painter. The majority of her work is contemporary and abstract. She exhibits throughout the USA and Canada. She has been an artist for many years and has won many awards. Her art is in various collections in Canada, England, France, Japan, Poland, and the USA.

Oriental

acrylic on paper

Jappie King Black

The sources of ritual art in so-called "primitive" cultures have always interested me. I lived in Argentina and Mexico for a number of years. My Latin American experiences continue to influence my work as an artist.

The trees in the woods behind my house in Brockport, New York are being taken over by the wild grapevines like kudzu in the Deep South. I collect vine and bark, harvesting it all year, to use in my sculptures and installations.

I have been working on a series, developed from my hand stitched and coiled baskets. The baskets are cast in bronze using the lost wax method to produce one of a kind pieces. I plan each as a fragment or whole vessel.

Like most artists, the concepts behind my work are personal. However, I expect my work to speak about nature, metamorphosis, loss and the handmade object

Paul Brandwein

I like to work in the space between figuration and abstraction. As much as I dislike labels, the term biomorphic abstraction may come close to what viewers see when they look at my work. I use a lot of different primal shapes and forms that remind many of biological, botanical or even celestial forms. I thrive on the challenge of making these contrasting forms, textures and colors work together. Whether the work is primarily sculptural or painterly I am trying to evoke and explore visceral feelings. Much of it is an attempt to evoke the mystery and exhilaration of growth and change as well as the desire for and fear of union. Viewers see many different things in my work and that’s fine with me.

Elizabeth Britton-Barry

We dwell in a multi-dimensional universe that continues to expand my beliefs and concepts. My soul mission is to understand the relationship of my body, mind and spirit to the vibrational energy of earth and sky. I continue to push my visual and sensual perceptions, moving away from my comfort zone to unexplored territory beginning to merge creative and healing art forms.

Earth Shifts

mixed media on canvas

Zanne Brunner

I have been creating my whole life. My projects and series of works have been primarily crafted with paint on canvas or paper, as well as exploring clay. All aspects of trees have primarily been my context for the last ten years. Currently, nests are my latest subjects. I am in the process of locating nests and a drone to collect images for my nest projects. Working with and learning about the latest technologies of drone capabilities as well as three-d printers are my focus. Needle felting is also a new skill that I will incorporate in my nests series. Even though I am in the gathering and skill-expanding mode, I am very excited about my new project.

Hair Response

marker on paper

Bradley Butler

I paint to disconnect from reality and then I keep painting to disconnect from the act of painting itself. The drifting mind allows me to sort through ideas, personal beliefs and dreams while speaking visually through mark making and symbolism. The surfaces of my paintings are thoroughly wrought with activity—layered with thin translucent washes, contrasted by thicker opaque areas of paint and wandering charcoal lines. The flat surfaces and atmospheric spaces that are created begin to both suggest and negate a physical place. These images exist somewhere between the real and the imagined. They leave you with the feeling that there is an inherent familiarity in a strange and mysterious situation.

Stu Chait

Everything, whether man-made or natural, has order and structure. How they are respected, modified, or disrupted, influences my artistic journey. I utilize watercolor to invoke emotion from the viewer. I want the viewer to abandon their pre-conceptions and contemplate what I am suggesting. Through my acts and gestures, non representational images evolve resulting in celebrations of color and the exploration of surface and texture not found in traditional brushwork. As the painting looks back at the viewer, a conversation is begun and a relationship started, allowing one to mentally perceive what they cannot see with their eyes.

Elizabeth Kind Durand

My response to the colors, textures and atmospheric effects of the landscape is best portrayed through the subtle and changeable techniques of the etching process. Printmaking techniques, that build up layers, textures and veils of color all combine to achieve a look that references the natural world. Using various plates that I have created, an image can be etched, inked and embossed to create unique and original collograph and etching monoprints.

Lynne Feldman

When I stare at a blank canvas I have one of several emotions. One is excitement for I am looking at a perfectly blank canvas that holds infinite possibilities and I can’t wait to begin. Another is fear because I am looking at a perfectly blank canvas that holds infinite possibilities and I have no idea of what I want to do. I have a saying on the door in my studio: “Painting is easy. All you have to do is stare at a blank canvas until drops of blood appear on your forehead”

Unless I am working on a commission, I rarely have an idea of where a work is going to take me. I will see a wonderful shape, like a pear or an unusual something on the street, that intrigues me, and that will become the basis for an entire painting. Once I have begun to make some markings on my canvas, I enter into a kind of a conversation with it. The work truly tells me what it needs. I think of each work as a puzzle that has never been solved before. The puzzle is the composition, a unique grouping of shapes. The puzzle is also finding the perfect color. My task is to find the best way to put them together.

Barbara Fox

The more I paint, the more I become enamored with the paint itself. Emphasizing overlapping brushstrokes, thickness and textures of the paint itself gives me enormous pleasure. While my images are mostly recognizable, I am enjoying this developing interest in other aspects of painting. This work is about my love of paint and painting.

Audrey Freedman

Vanishing Point

Cheryl Amati Martin

American Way Collection is a "life's work", developed over the years and currently ongoing. Sometimes it's about providing the viewer with a glimpse at the passing of time. However, at a time when fewer of the images we see are an honest representation of real life, street photography provides a window on the world that actually surrounds us here and now. My casual street portrait images portray character and soul of the individual, transcending cultural and language barriers. Many of my photographs are individually hand colored. My commitment to photography is imbedded.

Alice Gold

The challenge in creating art lies in the ability to be open to possibilities. One embarks on uncharted territory with each endeavor. The aesthetic considerations support the element of chance,cumulative experience and the tension between order and chaos.

Courtney Gruttadauria

When making art I try to exhaust the endless possibilities of both procedure and process. An initial goal is to ascertain what the physical characteristics of the material I am employing include, and what importance that lends to visual communication in a piece. What makes my work meaningful is it relates to an audience and displays a visual diary of my conscious and subconscious spirit. A signature style that manifests through the discipline of making art explores intuition and sensibilities. Painting, drawing and mixed media are my current areas of focus.

Landscape Series

oil on canvas

Male Figure

mixed media on paper

Jill Gussow

I have spent my life creating art and surrounding myself with imagery rich in personal meaning, color and pattern. I have used paint, paper, recycled fabric, metal, wood, etc. Now my focus is on the ancient art of mosaics. and tile work. I bring to this work, as I do all my work, the appreciation and study of traditional crafts such as paper cutting, needle work, and the many different temporary forms of architectural and personal ornamentation. "I use color, richness of pattern and complexity to create an opportunity for discovery while incorporating the familiar.

Phyllis Hackman

I like to photograph old things that have survived the ages and present them in a unique way. Ancient ruins, petroglyphs, outdated transportation, trees and flowers that have endured the ravages of nature and mankind, weathered landscapes and ever changing waters are a few of my favorite subjects. I present my images in a variety of medium including Silver Gelatin, C-Prints and digital. I often create texture and interest by choosing a variety of print media such as used coffee filters.

Michael Harris

While leaving the door open to the expressive possibilities of abstraction, my current work seeks to reintroduce imagery into painting. Found images and an attraction to less than conscious ideas begin the process which is also informed by past experience with printmaking,a love of the paper surface and working methods.

Freedom

monoprint with acrylic and solvent transfers

Open/Shut

acrylic on handcart paper with solvent transfer additions

Richard Harvey

Throughout my years as a contemporary figurative artist, process experimentation with a variety of media has been a prominent feature of my work. In painting, printmaking and sculpture, my focus has consistently been on the emotional potential of the human face. Over time, allergies to certain art products brought me to digital art-making, where I now pursue my interest in process with software applications, combining original scanned drawings, digital photographs, and other materials to create prints. Some prints later become monoprints, variants of the original, partially enhanced with traditional materials such as encaustic wax, pastels, colored pencils.

Street Hat 2

Street Hat 3

Street Hat 4

John Kosboth

Born naked, screaming, without a clue, Presently just old, no clue, occasionally naked, screaming through art.

Home, Alone…

Views From a Bridge

Sharon Locke

My artwork has evolved to be interdisciplinary with a current focus on video, photography and installation art. I work with the raw material of life. My creative process has intelligence and my strength is the capacity to express with integrity, human experiences such as survival, love, death, and the sacred space. Trusting the process is based on my belief that something valuable will emerge when I step into the unknown, move into uncharted territory and let my ego relinquish its plans and expectations in order to receive an unanticipated result. My intent is to share my perspective of primal emotions of individuals through an evocative process that will impact the public.

www.beyondcreativeboundaries.com

www.survivorsofsexualassault.com

www.vimeo.com/sharonlocke

Survivors of Sexual Assault

video

RJ Miller

As is the case for most artists, my work is intensely personal. Whether representational, abstract, or (as is usually the case) some combination of these two approaches, my art is heavily influenced by that “little voice” within me that tells me when something is right and when it is not. In making abstracts, I worry over color and its distribution on the canvas and while I like bright color I moderate the impulse to use it if it does not feel right. I am constantly drawing, and my more representational pieces usually result from my completing a drawing and realizing that it, alone or in combination with other drawings, has the potential for a good painting. When I am working primarily abstractly I generally begin with some idea, however hazy at the time, for a theme, usually in combination with some more specific ideas I have for color, composition, or for the addition of found objects. Occasionally I have even begun with a frame and curiosity as to how I might put something interesting in it.

Baroque Symphony

The Reaper

Dan Neuberger

Statement coming soon…

Santorini Steps

photography

Santorini Steps

photography

Santorini Steps

photography

Jane Notides-Benzing

I am intrigued by clouds, sunshine, rain, and wind that surround us. I give these elements of nature an abstract, surreal image by presenting them as sculptural wall reliefs in mixed media. Some works have multiple layers, painted and transparent, separated by colorful inclusions: particles appear to flow from mysterious spaces as reflections shimmer. Other reliefs are formed using a single sheet of painted, incised, and twisted paper: colors swirl and planes intermingle generating rhythms and vibrancy. Whatever form my art takes, as I work I wait for the surprise—then I know its finished.

Excitement in the Air

Rainbow Dazzle

Wood Winds

Betsy Phillips

A Rochester native, I have lived a double life, one as caseworker for Monroe County Child Protective Services, and one as an artist/photographer. A would-be architect, my educational background is in art and design. My primary medium has been photography with a focus on the abstract in man-made and urban environments. I am fascinated with reflections, shadows, and textures and the impact that time, happen-stance and light have on objects, the interplay between those objects, and the interplay between man and nature. These interactions are a metaphor for the ways in which each of us sees the world and each other– from our own perspective, and distorted by our own internal lens. Our thoughts are impacted by our surroundings, but are not true reflections of what we see and hear.

In 2005, I helped found Image City Photography Gallery to showcase my work and that of other photographers. A current partner, I am responsible for much of the curating and most of the graphic design work for the gallery, and the graphic design for the ARENA Art Group. Over the past two and half years, I have been exploring clay and mixed media, expanding my love of texture to create masks, vessels and collages.

Alley Still life

photography

Car Talk Series

photography

Sunspots

photography

Dan Scally

I have always been an artist, even when I wasn’t physically creating something. I remember as a child, breaking down objects and nature into shapes and color by squinting my eyes. It’s what artists do to simplify and clarify. We tend to look at the world around us differently. Art is not about copying nature, but more about expressing intangible ideas, experiences and emotions. I consider myself a 3-dimensional artist as well as a painter because I work in wood and metal. Recently, I have been working with the concept of infinite space creating shapes and forms on canvas without conscious reference to known objects. My current work is very “stream of conscious”, reacting in the moment, using vibrant color, rough texture and taking advantage of accidents as they happen.

I can be somewhat literal or abstract in my interpretations, depending on the idea I’m trying to express. I often paint with tools other than brushes because it helps free me up. I like to leave the road open so one media can lead to another and one mark might suggest another

To state the obvious then, Art is experimental for me and very much about "risk taking”

I really love the creative process and use alternative materials and surfaces in my work.

Occasionally, I find myself looking at discarded objects and wondering what I can create from them. There always seems to be that “What If” question and it translates into a mix of surface and media. It is about applying and removing paint, pastel, ink, and pencil. It is about working and reworking the surface and pushing the boundaries of the creative process. That’s what keeps it interesting and fresh for me.

I like canvas because I can work the surface and build up layers. I like paper because it absorbs. I like metal for it opaqueness and reflectivity. I like wood because I can shape and form it. I’m really not satisfied unless I’ve discovered something new in each work I create. I see my work as an evolutionary process: Starting with an idea or concept, I tend to “Compose as I Go”, applying media to the substrate, building up layers and manipulating the surface. Although my work tends to be abstract, I am very much in control of composition, color, and design.

Recently, I have begun to use digital media and image enhancement software as additional tools. Using a digital print process, I can combine the working image with other media or paint back into the work in progress. Current influences include the works of Hans Hofmann, Franz Kline, DeKooning, Kandinsky and Diebenkorn. My goal is always to simplify an idea, distill the visual facts and capture the emotional aspects or mood. Like a performance, a work of art does not live until it has been seen and experienced by an audience. "I believe that an artist needs to make a connection between his own imagination and that of the viewer to be truly successful.

Martha Schermerhorn

My art explores my personal experience of the world. I question and search for meaning in my relationships to family, humanity, and history.

Over the course of my career, I have found answers in sorrow, joy, humor, and wonder expressed through drawing, painting, printmaking, letterpress, collage, and photography. These come together for me in the artist’s book form, the current heart and soul of my work. It provides a forum in which to search for layers of personal understanding and meaning that can sometimes elude me in any single medium.

http://www.mostlyartistsbooks.com

g.a. Sheller

g.a. Sheller is recognized as one of the country's leading artists in the synthesis of watercolor and photography, and is a renowned colorist whose paintings highlight landscapes and plant forms. Her work is featured in Watercolor Magazine with an article written by M. Stephen Doherty, former editor of American Artist Magazine. She is a member of Who's Who in American Art, Strathmore's Who's Who and holds a Bachelor of Fine Art degree from the College of New Rochelle with additional graduate study at Pennsylvania State University and with Robert Reed at Yale University. g.a. is profiled in the Who's Who of the International Biographical Centre, Cambridge, England and has been named to the 2000 Outstanding Artists and Designers of the 20th Century by the I.B.C. g.a. is an associate member of the American Watercolor Society.

www.gasheller.com

Jim Thomas

I am interested in the exploration of images founded in a studied vocabulary of the human form and forms found in nature. The resultant abstract images have their origins in observed reality and may suggest a hidden inner connection between our human spirit and the natural world that surrounds us.

cgjethomas@rochester.rr.com

Nancy Valle

Since beginning work in ceramic sculpture, a broad theme has been central to my work: the relationship between the physical cycles of the natural world and past and present culture. The clay forms are hand-built. Some are counter -balanced and reveal internal tensions and energy. Others communicate harmony and balance. These forms mirror the birth and transformations that are inherent in the process of becoming; either in the search for self-identity or in the organic nature of our relationships with others. The clay surface marks and glaze colors are intended to integrate the form and are added throughout my entire process, correlating to dynamics that unfold through time. The final kiln firing further transforms the clay and freezes an epiphany informed by observations and ideas about who we are as individuals and how we define ourselves within nature, community, and culture. Throughout the entire ceramic process, I honor the integrity and natural properties of clay: it’s plasticity, texture, and strength.